@minimia I had my Whipple 6 years ago. I hear a lot of people talk about chemo and radiation before surgery. I was diagnosed early in May, 2014. A couple of weeks later I was at Mayo for a week of tests and I had my Whipple on June 5, 2014. My surgery took 8 1/2 hours. Surgery didn't bother me - I slept through the whole thing. My doctor didn't use stiches or staples. He put me back together with "super glue." The day after surgery he took the bandages of to check things out. I was waiting for him to put a new dressing on but he said it wasn't necessary. They had me on an insulin drip the first night. I was told it was supposed to promote healing. The nurse came in every hour to test my blood sugars. I remember having a very sore back. By 3:00 AM I told the nurse I had to get out of bed. She helped me up. I walked to the doorway of the room, looked down the hallway and told her I wanted to go back to bed. I was in the hospital for 7 days. I really wished I had brought a pillow with me to hold over the incision on the way home. Walk as much as possible before and after surgery.